Taylor Schilling has reflected on the changing attitudes to her Orange is the New Black character Piper Chapman.
The hit prison comedy-drama – which aired from 2013 to 2019 – starred Schilling as a wealthy white woman who’s sent to prison for criminal conspiracy and money laundering. It also featured a diverse ensemble cast of actors, including Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks and Samira Wiley.
When the show launched, creator Jenji Kohan described the character of Piper as like a “Trojan horse”. She said: “You’re not going to go into a network and sell a show on really fascinating tales of Black women, and Latina women, and old women and criminals.
“But if you take this white girl, this sort of fish out of water, and you follow her in, you can then expand your world and tell all of those other stories.”
In a new interview with The Independent, Schilling reflected on the animosity that grew towards her character as the series went on.
“In some ways, that was really hard,” said Schilling. “I felt really hurt. I took it personally and I felt like I was no longer a part of the pack. I think Piper held the projection of a lot of white privilege for the collective that was invested in the show.”
She added: “That’s a vital theme to discuss but it’s also not the easiest thing to hold… It was so wonderful to be a part of, of course, then it was an interesting experience to observe the change from when we started. It really changed.”
When the last season aired, one headline claimed: “Orange Is the New Black’s Piper Will Go Down in History as the Most Hated Character of All Time.”
Schilling told The Independent: “I definitely observed that feeling of celebration shifting into resentment of Piper. It’s a difficult thing to not personalise that. I started to feel like my job in that show was just as a space holder, to provide a steady middle so that other people could really shine.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Schilling discussed her role as a queer porn star in Pam & Tommy, the new Hulu series about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape.
